Ajinkya Rahane has replaced Steve Smith as the captain of IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals after the Australian National Cricket Captain announced his decision not to remain captain of the IPL franchise following the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa last week.

The ball-tampering scandal and his owning up responsibility as the captain resulted in Steve Smith being suspended for one Test match and 100 percent of his match fee was fined.

Steve Smith might be banned for at least one year

According to sources, Cricket Australia, formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board could ban Smith for a year while a six-month ban could be handed to David Warner.

Ajinkya Rahane is the new Captain of Rajasthan Royals IPL Team

“Ajinkya Rahane will replace Steve Smith as captain of the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the Vivo Indian Premier League 2018,” Rajasthan Royals said in a press statement.

The statement further stated that under the present situation Steve Smith thought it bets not remain captain of the Rajasthan Royals for the best interests of the franchise. The statement added that this would, according to Smith, allow the IPL team to get ready for the tournament “without the ongoing distractions”.

Zubin Bharucha, head of cricket Rajasthan Royals said, “The incident in Cape Town has certainly disturbed the cricket world. We have been in constant touch with the BCCI and taken their counsel. Furthermore, we have been in regular contact with Steve.”

Bharucha added that the culture and values at Rajasthan Royals are very well understood by Rahane because he has been associated with the team for such a long time and as an integral part of the Royals family. The franchise is confident that he would lead the team well.

The IPL campaign for Rajasthan Royals would start with an away match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9th.

“Ajinkya Rahane has stepped up as a leader whenever he has been given the opportunity, be it for Team India or at Rajasthan Royals. We consider him the right candidate to lead the side this crucial season when the team is coming back to the IPL after two years. We wish him all the best,” said Sunrisers Hyderabad

Ajinkya Rahane is the new Captain of Rajasthan Royals IPL Team

He added that utmost importance would be given to governance and security as policies of the franchise and the franchise management are striving to attain the best methods to achieve the best output in terms of governing and security.

Steve Smith announced his resignation

Steve Smith has announced his resignation, the fate of Australian National Cricket team coach Darren Lehmann is also very untenable. A decision would be taken by Cricket Australia on Wednesday evening Indian time as Cricket Australia’s CEO James Sutherland is on his way to South Africa for joining up with the rest of his colleagues.

Cameron Bancroft was caught tampering the ball

The incident of ball tampering occurred on Day 3 of the Test match on Saturday when Bancroft was captured on TV cameras rubbing a yellow object on the ball. Bancroft is the most junior member of the Australian team who was given the task of tampering the ball. Following the ball-tampering attempt, TV cameras also caught him putting away the object down inside the front of his trousers. He was called up by the on-field umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, who inquired with him about the incident flowing them being alerted about the suspected incident.